Closed Chamber. Are you all serious with the no holes for air exchange on closed chamber?

[jylee1997123]

Are you all actually serious with leaving no holes for air exchange on closed chamber? I thought closed chamber is just closing the enclosure and leaving some holes for air exchange until I browse around and saw people actually said closing the enclosure completely...

 

[Tom]

Yes we are serious. We are not saying air tight, and no one builds an airtight enclosure. There is enough air exchange from the cracks around the doors and gaps in the seems, and from opening the doors for daily maintenance.

The whole point of a closed chamber is to stop air exchange. The air outside the enclosure is too cool and dry, and trying to heat the air in an open topped enclosure created a chimney effect and dries the tortoise and its enclosure out excessively.

Its like submerging your open topped margarita in a hot tub. The liquid in the glass will mix with the liquid in the hot tub, and they will equalize. Put a lid on your margarita, and it will last much longer while submerged. Put your margarita in a sealed and well insulated enclosure and it will stay cold and undiluted a lot longer while submerged in a hot tub.

 

[jylee1997123]

Yes we are serious. We are not saying air tight, and no one builds an airtight enclosure. There is enough air exchange from the cracks around the doors and gaps in the seems, and from opening the doors for daily maintenance.

The whole point of a closed chamber is to stop air exchange. The air outside the enclosure is too cool and dry, and trying to heat the air in an open topped enclosure created a chimney effect and dries the tortoise and its enclosure out excessively.

Its like submerging your open topped margarita in a hot tub. The liquid in the glass will mix with the liquid in the hot tub, and they will equalize. Put a lid on your margarita, and it will last much longer while submerged. Put your margarita in a sealed and well insulated enclosure and it will stay cold and undiluted a lot longer while submerged in a hot tub.

Damn, that actually surprised me. Thanks for the fast reply. Sealed all the holes.
So are there something like a minimum size enclosure so they wont be out of oxygen until the next soaking / feeding time?

 

[daniellenc]

If you’re feeding daily, changing water, and soaking they get all the oxygen they need. Your house is closed right? You still breathe.

 

[Tom]

Damn, that actually surprised me. Thanks for the fast reply. Sealed all the holes.
So are there something like a minimum size enclosure so they wont be out of oxygen until the next soaking / feeding time?

Every enclosure is different. You'll have to watch your gauges and tortoise too fine tune yours. Too hot or humid? Open up some holes. Drying out too fast and ambient heat working all the time to maintain ambient temps? Close it up some more.

In all of the closed chambers that I have hand built, I need no additional venting. In the new ones that I've recently bought, they came with plenty of their own venting. I taped it al closed, and then realized that I needed that venting and untaped all of it. Use your thermometer/hygrometer to adjust your own chamber as needed. You might even need to adjust the venting in your enclosure seasonly, even if nothing else has changed.